Wireless communication networks are widely deployed to provide various communication services such as telephony, video, data, messaging, broadcasts, and so on. Such networks, which are usually multiple access networks, support communications for multiple users by sharing the available network resources. One example of such a network is the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is a radio access network (RAN) defined as a part of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), which is a third generation (3G) mobile phone technology supported by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). UMTS, which is the successor to Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) technologies, currently supports various air interface standards, such as Wideband-Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA), Time Division—Code Division Multiple Access (TD-CDMA), and Time Division—Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA). UMTS also supports enhanced 3G data communications protocols, such as High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), which provides higher data transfer speeds and capacity to associated UMTS networks.
Generally in UMTS networks, mobile communication devices are configured to use a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) (also commonly referred to as a SIM card) to store the subscriber's identity and information for security and authentication purposes. Some mobile communication devices have multi-SIM capability utilizing multiple UICCs. In multi-SIM applications, mobile communication devices can engage in calls or other services on two or more different subscriptions. These subscriptions might be on the same network or different networks.
As the demand for mobile broadband access continues to increase, research and development continue to advance mobile technologies not only to meet the growing demand for mobile broadband access, but to advance and enhance the user experience with mobile communications.